THE WHITE OR GREY STOCK. 263 



tioned among the Persian bays of Circassia. The 

 dapplings, of a purer white than the general colour, 

 seem to be a typical character of the grey stirps, 

 marking the quarters and the shoulder more parti- 

 cularly, and in general obliterated by blackish on 

 the limbs. With age the colour becomes more 

 white, and the animal's skin is of a light slaty 

 blue; but there is a tendency to become roseate 

 in some cases, and oftener to ladre, or with smut- 

 coloured stains, and in both cases producing albi- 

 nism, or very pale cream, with the round dapples 

 scarcely whiter, and then the eyes are often blue, 

 and the region round them and on the nose flesh- 

 coloured. The greys, however, are often without 

 the light spots, and vary in shades to an inter- 

 mediate neutral, tending to blue ; but usually the 

 mane and tail are more or less mixed with black. 



The grey stock is naturally of a higher stature 

 than the bay, and possesses, with greater breadth 

 and more solid limbs, the contour of form which 

 painters and sculptors more particularly delight in. 

 It mixed at all times best with the noble bay of 

 Western Asia, and it may have added to its stature 

 and bone, when the breeds of Cilicia and Armenia 

 came down to Egypt. It may be questioned whe- 

 ther the white and grey races of Northern Africa 

 and the Date region are descended from a primeval 

 invasion from Central Asia, or are merely whitish 

 in consequence of a law which in those burning 

 climates operates in a similar manner upon rumi- 

 nants, such as several species of Bomdce and Ante- 



